I am the Eggman
by iammemyself
Summary: A story told from the POV of everyone's favourite relentless villain.  We find him at the end of a battle with Sonic, one he doesn't have the motivation to finish.
1. Chapter 1

I'm sick of it.  
>I'm sick of fighting him.<br>How many accursed years has it been?  
>Far too many, I tell you.<br>I must have built billions of robots. Millions of airships. Hundreds of bases.  
>I roboticized him. I cloned him. I built countless replicas of him.<br>I kidnapped his friends. I kidnapped strangers. I helped him defeat my experiments, even.  
>No matter how much I threaten, no matter what I do, he is always there.<br>In fact, he's here right now.  
>Of course.<br>"What's the matter, Egghead? Run out of bots to throw at me?" he taunts.  
>"No," I say. "There's always more where they came from."<br>"Well then? Where are they? Bring 'em on!"  
>I sigh. "If you insist," I intone boredly, and press a button on my console. A hundred robots fall from the ceiling. Within 30 seconds he's destroyed all of them.<br>"That was too easy!" he brags. "C'mon Eggman, show me what you've got!"  
>I do something I have never done before.<br>I just walk away.  
>"Hey, hey!" yells Sonic, in his usual annoying I'm-a-teenage-rebel voice, "Where do you think you're going?"<br>"I don't know," I say. "But I'm leaving."  
>He stands there dumbly. This isn't part of the game. I'm not supposed to walk away. I'm supposed to have a last trick up my sleeve, one last gambit, something I can do out of desperation that will allow him to have the last laugh.<br>I do, but I don't feel like letting him have it today.  
>"Uh," says Sonic lamely. "I guess...uh...I guess I'll go too. Um...see ya around."<br>He runs off, his shoes hitting the metal with loud thuds. That boy sure has large feet.

I'm sitting in my study now. I have nothing with which to occupy me. All of my energy, everything I am, has been bent upon world domination. Any world. Anywhere. No matter how big or how small, no matter who lives there, no matter what kind. But it doesn't matter. Even if I build an amusement park in space, even if I travel to a planet I'm sure he doesn't know of and kidnap its princess, I still can't defeat him.  
>"Dr. Eggman."<br>The robot I least want to see has arrived.  
>"I have no need of you. You are dismissed," I say, rubbing my hands together a little.<br>"Master, of course you have need of me. The hedgehog is near. I was given instructions to attack when he reached the inner core, but he never arrived. According to my calculations, he should have arrived 30 minutes ago. I did not alert you in case you were busy with his defeat. However, after 30 minutes had accrued I decided to change positions. I saw him heading south in the Tornado II, piloted by Miles "Tails" Prower. Do I have authorization to pursue?"  
>"No," I say, rolling my eyes. Sometimes Metal is just as annoying as his counterpart. "You do not. All you have authorization to do is to return to your storage unit and power down until I reactivate you. That is all."<br>"But Master-the hedgehog-he-"  
>"I said that is all, Metal Sonic." I turn around to face him. "Don't make me deactivate you."<br>Metal Sonic, of course, shows no reaction. But I know all of the robots have a primal fear of deactivation. I've heard them speak of it. Well, the more intelligent ones have. However, I don't think Metal Sonic fears deactivation, somehow.  
>Perhaps I should fix that.<p>

Death Egg, 1992

"How is he?"  
>"He is stable," said the robot in a lifeless voice.<br>Julian grimaced. That meant he had been repaired, that was all. No more.  
>"Ah, Julian, come in," said the man inside the room when he saw Julian at the doorway. Julian closed his eyes and sighed to himself. He didn't really want to. To say the least, his father made him very uneasy. His relentless quest to take over the world seemed very, very inane to Julian. But they said Dr. Robotnik was a mad genius, so perhaps that was what mad geniuses did in their free time. Mad geniuses certainly seemed to have a lot of free time.<br>"All right, doctor," said Julian. "How did it go this time?"  
>"It was ridiculous!" said Dr. Robotnik, waving his arms in the air and sitting up quickly. "Now he has a two-tailed fox following him around! That fox can't be more than 5 years old! Yet there he was, flying the brat's plane like he was born right there in the cockpit! I was almost unable to shoot him down!"<br>"And the hedgehog..." said Julian.  
>Dr. Robotnik's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.<br>"He found them," he growled. Julian was surprised.  
>"He found the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Julian. "Again?"<br>"YES!" snarled Dr. Robotnik. "How he can find them by himself when I can't find them with a whole army of robots is beyond me. It doesn't make sense! It doesn't! It doesn't!"  
>Julian was beginning to think it wouldn't be long before he had to lock Dr. Robotnik up somewhere where he wouldn't hurt anybody. He was starting to get out of hand. Sure, when he was a kid, Julian had thought world domination would be really cool, but after one too many failures he was positive it was impossible.<br>"I assume he transformed, then, " said Julian, to make sure.  
>"YES," growled Dr. Robotnik. "Of COURSE he did. Why wouldn't he, if he had the Emeralds?" "He seems to enjoy defeating you," said Julian. "Perhaps he might have wanted to see if he could defeat you without them?"<br>"Well, I wish he had," said Dr. Robotnik, wiping the corner of his mouth, "because maybe then I could have defeated him! And his friend! Because right after that hedgehog blew the Death Egg to smithereens, he plucked Sonic out of the sky with the Tornado! In the time it took for Sonic to pass through the Wing Fortress, destroy the Death Egg, defeat my robots and Silver Sonic, as well as me, and get thrown out into space where he might have finally met his demise, the fox FIXED THE TORNADO AND CAME TO FIND SONIC!"  
>"He must be quite skilled," Julian mused. "How long did it take Sonic to do all of that, doctor?"<br>"ABOUT 20 MINUTES!" Dr. Robotnik screamed. "20 MINUTES! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE! HE'S WHAT, 12? AND HE MANAGED TO DEFEAT MY PLANS OF WORLD DOMINATION IN ONLY AN HOUR AND A HALF!" He took a deep breath, hopefully to calm himself. "Do you know how long it took me to create all of that, Julian?"  
>"How long, doctor?" said Julian, even though he already knew it was a little over a year.<br>"A YEAR! A YEAR! HE DEFEATS A YEAR OF WORK IN 90 MINUTES! HOW DID HE DO THAT?"  
>Julian decided not to answer. It would only infuriate Dr. Robotnik more.<br>"I will start again," said Dr. Robotnik to himself. "Next time, I will be successful. Next time, I will win. Next time..."  
>Julian prayed there would not be a next time.<p>


	2. Chapter 2

Egg Carrier, 2011

"Dr. Eggman," says one of my more intelligent bots, "there is a message for you on the communicator."  
>"What?" I say, startled. No one can send messages to my communicator. No one knows the frequency. Only I do. That communicator is so I can terrorize the general populace, that is all. No one should be able to send ME anything on it.<br>"There is a message for you on the communicator," the robot repeats, in exactly the same way as before.  
>"Very well," I say. "Bring it to me."<br>When I access it I am not really surprised when I see who sent it.  
>Who else would be able to hack my frequency and contact me?<br>Miles Prower.  
>I personally despise his little nickname. I don't understand the point of it. But I call him Tails regardless, because I have a strange feeling I don't want to see fox boy getting angry.<br>He left a message asking me to contact him as soon as possible, he wants to talk about something. What could Miles and I possibly discuss?  
>I call him with the communicator. He answers immediately.<br>"Hey, hello?" he says. I suppose he doesn't know who it is.  
>"What is it that you wish to discuss with me?" I ask him politely, distantly. The truth is the fox doesn't annoy me as much as the hedgehog does. I actually respect him a lot.<br>"Well," says Miles, rubbing at the fur on the side of his face, "Sonic said that you didn't want to finish your last battle...is that true?"  
>"It is," I say. I don't go on any further. I want to know where he's going with this.<br>"Why not?" asks Miles, blinking his big blue eyes. They annoy me. I want to reach out and snatch the innocence from them. Innocence such as that should not exist in the world. Even after all these years he is still innocent.  
>"Why would you need to know?" I ask.<br>"Because," says Miles, "I was about to save the day."  
>"WHAT!" I shout in surprise. "There's no way you could possibly-"<br>"Of course there is," says Miles, smiling his little boy smile at me, irritating me to no end, "I knew where Metal Sonic was going to be."  
>"How could you have possibly known that?"<br>He laughs at me.  
>"I'm just as smart as you are, Dr. Eggman," he says, but he's not bragging. He's stating a fact. "I'm learning to think like you too." He frowns. "That is a bit scary, I think, but it sure helps when we're planning our attacks! But seriously, Dr. Eggman..." he says, looking around behind him and lowering his voice, "are you okay?"<br>Now I frown. "Why would you care about that?"  
>"I...I don't know. I guess...well, I've known you for a long time, right? And I respect you a lot. So...I guess that has something to do with it." Now he's confused. "I really don't know!"<br>"You're wasting my time," I say to him, although I really have nothing to do. Of course he picks up on that.  
>"Well," he says, "I'm guessing since you didn't finish the battle you're kinda bored. Am I right?"<br>"Perhaps," I say. It's all part of the game.  
>"'Kay," he says. "I'm gonna come and visit you. See ya in a bit!"<br>He's going to what?

Doomsday Zone, 1994

"Defeated again, I see."  
>"NEXT TIME I WILL NOT FAIL!"<br>Julian sighed.  
>His father was getting VERY hard to deal with. At first he was bent on world domination. Now he was obssessed with destroying the hedgehog.<br>And the fox.  
>And now, the echidna.<br>The echidna he had tricked into helping him defeat Sonic.  
>Now the echidna was against Dr. Robotnik as well. That was not a good sign. The echidna was very powerful, and the guardian of the Master Emerald besides. Only the echinda could even get to it, since he was the last of the Guardians, and it was stuck on Angel Island.<br>"Dr. Robotnik, don't you ever think maybe you should...well...stop?" Julian ventured to ask.  
>Instantly Dr. Robotnik's fury was turned upon him. Amazingly fast for such a large man, he slammed Julian into the wall, hard. Julian was a scrawny boy. It hurt him a lot.<br>Dr. Robotnik's face was right in close to Julian's. Julian could see the mad eyes behind his glasses.  
>"Don't you tell me what to do," he snarled. "You are the one who gets told what to do. And don't you forget that, Julian!"<br>"I won't," Julian said, trying to squirm enough so that the grip wasn't as strong.  
>"Stop that! Are you a man or a caterpillar? Stay still and deal with what you have brought on yourself!"<br>Julian stopped squirming. After a long, long moment of glaring into his eyes, Dr. Robotnik let go and Julian fell to the floor. He rubbed at his shoulders.  
>"Don't do that," said Dr. Robotnik.<br>Julian stopped.  
>He stood up, fists clenched.<br>One day...  
>One day Dr. Robotnik was going to know how it felt.<br>Yes, he had faced the hedgehog many, many times.  
>Yes, he had been defeated by the fox many, many times.<br>Yes, he was now going to be beaten by the echidna many, many times.  
>But Julian knew he had not felt fear at any of these encounters.<br>Julian would show him.  
>Julian would show him what it meant to be evil.<p>

Egg Carrier, 2011

I was looking through some rather strange and unexplained files on my computer, ones I didn't remember making but probably did at some point, when the fox arrived. He was perky as ever, even though he was walking into an airship filled with fully armed robots that could take him down in a second.  
>Or maybe they couldn't. For all I know Sonic is sitting outside, waiting for Miles to call for him.<br>"Hey there!" says Miles. He's smiling. He jumps up onto my desk and of course he looks right at the monitor. He can't help himself. I'm the same way.  
>"Ahem," I say pointedly. "If you're here to spy, you're not doing a very good job."<br>"Heh heh," says Miles, rubbing a finger under his nose. It's a trait he picked up from Sonic.  
>I hate it.<br>Like I hate that hedgehog.  
>"Hello? You there?" asks Miles, looking sideways at me.<br>"Does it look like I went anywhere?" I snap, annoyed that I lost control of the situation.  
>"No," said Miles, "but you went kinda distant there. Just makin' sure. I still don't think you're okay."<br>"How would you know? Are you a psychiatrist now?"  
>"I could be," says Miles, hopping down and looking around at the mechanical devices I have scattered around the room. Again, I know the feeling. "I've read a lot of books, you know, and a lot of research papers. And Sonic says I can be anything I wanna be. But...well, I don't want to grow up and be a psychiatrist, I want to build stuff. Planes mostly. Hey," he says, turning around, "what did you wanna be when you grew up? Or did you always wanna take over the world?" He says this teasingly, laughing.<br>He's hit a nerve.  
>I lose control of the situation again.<p>

Unknown Zone, 1985

"Julian!"  
>Julian looked up from his paper.<br>"What are you doing, Julian?"  
>"I'm...I'm...it's nothing," said Julian, trying to hide the paper. He was unsuccessful, as his father snatched it from him.<br>"I'm sure," said Dr. Robotnik. As soon as he saw what it was he became angry.  
>"What sort of foolishness is this?" he asked in a low and dangerous voice.<br>"It's art," said Julian.  
>Dr. Robotnik looked at him from behind those glasses.<br>"So," he said, "little Julian wants to be an artist." His words dripped with disgust.  
>"So what if I do," said Julian defiantly. "I see you have not yet learned your place," said Dr. Robotnik, in a terrible voice. He ripped the page to shreds. Shock tore through Julian.<br>"No!" he yelled. "I spent days drawing that! You can't destroy it just like that!"  
>"Julian, Julian, Julian," said Dr. Robotnik carelessly, "you will one day find that even the hardest work can be destroyed in an instant."<p>

Julian looks something like this: ./files/costumes/1039/39970/Young_

Sorry if the artist doesn't like that I put it here. If they ask I will remove it. I can't find who drew it, but if you know please let me know. I just found it on Google. 


	3. Chapter 3

Egg Carrier, 2011

"Hey Dr. Eggman!" says Miles, shocking me back into the present, "are you sure you're okay? 'Cause you're sure acting weird." He rolls his eyes. "Well, you always act kinda weird, but this is weird even for you."  
>"What do you mean I act kind of weird?" I snap at him. He's forgetting that he is in my territory, around an area solely under my command.<br>"Trying to take over the world isn't weird?" asks Miles.  
>"It depends on your point of view," I say haughtily. He grins.<br>"That's absolutely right! I never thought of it that way before!"  
>I am rather surprised by this statement. I didn't think he would agree with me. I thought he would argue to kingdom come, like his beloved best friend would.<br>It looks like Miles is flying away from the nest after all.  
>"So what did ya wanna be?" he asks. He's not going to let it go. He is a child, after all, and children like to hear adults talk about when they were kids. "Of course I wanted to take over the world," I say, looking straight at him. "What else could I have wanted?"<br>"Minds change easily," says Miles sadly.  
>"What do you mean by that?"<br>"Well," says Miles, a little shyly, "I wanted to be a doctor once. But how could I be a doctor when I have this?" He lifts a hand under his twin tails and lets them drift back into position. "I need...I needed fixing, so how could I fix anybody else?"  
>He's still having issues with himself. Interesting.<br>"And what about what Sonic told you?"  
>"He tells me a lot of things," says Miles, rubbing at his forehead absently, "and I try to listen to all of them. He gives good advice, you know. But it's hard to remember when people are making fun of you."<br>"Do people still make fun of you?"  
>"Yeah," he says, looking at the ground and shuffling his feet a little, "of course they do. Only now it's worse."<br>He takes a breath, as if to steady himself for a wave of bad memories that was threatening to knock him over. "They call me the sidekick, and the damsel in distress. Sometimes they tell me I'm...I'm gay, just 'cause I follow Sonic. But...I'm not. I'm not like that. He's my brother, nothing more than that, and I don't want him to be."  
>For some reason he seems to trust me a lot.<br>Why is that?  
>I am strangely uneasy at the thought of using this to manipulate him.<br>These seem to be things he can't even tell Sonic.  
>Of course he can't.<br>If he told Sonic, Sonic would tell him not to listen, it wasn't true. He would tell him to go his own way and not worry about anybody else's opinion, 'cause what did it matter anyways?  
>Some people can't think that way.<br>Some people have to learn to think that way.  
>Sonic was born with it. He had never cared what anyone thought, simply because he knew, from whatever point he had become his present self, that he could do anything, and he was able to prove it.<br>Miles, however, had been insecure from the beginning, due to unusual appearance as well as intelligence. He knew that he could do anything, but was far too afraid to try.  
>"Then why do you follow him?" I ask, even though I already know the answer, of course. He wants to be like Sonic. He wants a piece of Sonic to rub off on him.<br>His answer is not what I predicted it to be.  
>"Because he's my friend," he says simply. "I guess it's kind of pathetic, really, but it's hard for me to get friends. And to have a friend who wants to be my brother? That's something I have to hold onto. That's something I can't lose. If I lose Sonic," he says, blinking hard, "I lose everything." He steadies himself. "But that's why I'm here, doctor," he says in a strong voice. "I'm afraid I didn't catch the reason," I say drily. "Because I never see you WITH anybody. You're always surrounded by robots. No contact with anything...real. I mean, robots are nice and everything, but they don't really compare with a real person."<br>"So you've decided to be my Sonic?" I ask. He looks at me in shock.  
>"No no no," he cries, "of course not. I just...I just thought you might like some company for once. I've built a few robots myself, you know. I wouldn't trade my friends for one of them."<br>I rise from my chair. "Follow me, " I say in an emotionless voice.  
>Looking a bit frightened, the little fox trails behind me as I take him through my base, one of many scattered here and there for me to retreat to when the time is right. In one of the sublevels I open a door and gesture him inside. There is just one computer terminal in the room.<br>"These are the original plans of devices created by Dr. Robotnik," I say, "that of course were destroyed by you and your friends. I never could figure out what the design flaws were."  
>"That's because you think like him," says Miles, eagerly accessing the terminal. "Like this one," he says, pointing at a hoverchair design that would drop a ball onto the ground, then create a magnetic field of sorts that would pull the target towards the streams of electricity shooting from it. "I mean, the charge lasted only so long, and it was really easy to get away from the field. Why was it so weak anyways? I could build a stronger one in my sleep!"<br>"Dr. Robotnik tended to...overlook things," I say.  
>"I see that!" says Miles. "Look at this one he used in the Chemical Plant Zone! Getting through the Zone was harder than defeating that machine! It took SO LONG just to create its attack!"<br>And so he went on, outlining the flaws in each and every one of Dr. Robotnik's machines. Of course he knew what they were; he had had to defeat them, or Sonic had had to. After a while he steps back, though he clearly doesn't want to.  
>"I have to go," he says. "The others will be wondering where I am." He smiles at me. "I had a lot of fun! Thanks!"<br>He runs off, tails swishing back and forth. In my control room I watch the Tornado - the original Tornado - take to the sky in the gathering dusk.  
>Now do I take advantage of that little visit, or do I just let everything go? <p>


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Unknown Zone, 2001

I have finally seen them.  
>The creatures that my father has been obssessing over for the last 10 years.<br>I have concluded that he is pathetic.  
>A pink hedgehog with a Piko Piko Hammer.<br>A red echidna with spiked gloves.  
>An orange, two-tailed fox.<br>And a blue hedgehog with bright red sneakers.  
>It is all rather unbelievable. My father can't stop 4 young animals from preventing his world domination? With all of his machines, all of his weaponry, all of his intellect, he cannot manage to squash 4 cretins?<br>It is time.  
>My father is in his lab, feverishly constructing yet another "doomsday device" that will surely, this time, bring about the destruction of the motley crew. On the screen that brings in the view from outside, the hedgehog is laughing and taunting my father, waving his gloved finger in a way that made it seem as though he were doing it in my father's face. The other hedgehog I dismiss; she just stands there, seeming enamoured to be in the blue hedgehog's prescence. The echidna can be taken down easily; all I have to do is deflate his ego. At one time I thought he was dangerous, now I know otherwise.<br>The two-tailed fox, however, I know to be dangerously intelligent for his age, and I know he is a real threat.  
>As for the hedgehog, I am still trying to figure him out.<br>He has no special strength except the ability to run at astonishing speeds. What he appears to have is a strange magnetism that draws people to him, and he can draw them together whenever he sees fit. I can see he is confident, yet not arrogant, and he is determined, but not cocky.  
>He and the fox together could be a very real threat indeed. I continue to watch them, and I notice that they are standing unusually close together, with the hedgehog glancing back at the fox every now and again, with the fox silently backing up everything the hedgehog does.<br>So they have a very close relationship.  
>Good.<br>That will make it so much easier to destroy them.  
>Take away one, the other will not stop until he has found him.<br>Not so strong apart as they are together.  
>Suddenly my father lets loose a bevy of machines, and they all target the blue hedgehog. He only laughs and transforms into a streak of cobalt light, and wherever it passes machine parts are strewn in its wake. When he is finished he starts laughing and taunting my father again. He does not see the missle coming up behind him.<br>But the fox does.  
>Moving surprisingly fast, the fox pushes the hedgehog out of the way of the missle, putting himself in his place. The hedgehog falls to the ground, shocked, and stretches his hand out helplessly as the fox falls to the ground in an attempt to minimize the effect of the weapon.<br>The hedgehog moves to help his friend the moment the light has faded. All jolity has gone from him now, replaced with a cold and dangerous rage.  
>"You'll pay for this," he snarls, and in an instant has vanished. The other two follow him as quickly as they can.<br>"NO!" my father screams. "THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOU!"  
>I decide it is time.<br>I'm tired of watching him fail. I'm tired of being made to do everything he commands, when he is himself incompetent. I'm tired of that blue hedgehog.  
>It is time to bring it out.<br>"He has been bothering you a long time, hasn't he," I say, not wanting an answer. My father is sitting in his chair, breathing heavily, tearing at his moustache.  
>"You know the answer to that, Julian," he says.<br>"Too long," I say.  
>"I will destroy him. Next time. I will."<br>"I'm sure you will," I say dryly. "But I'm tired of hearing you say that. I'm tired of wasting my time on machines you can't keep in one piece. I'm tired of you, old man."  
>He looks at me, surprised.<br>"How dare you speak to me that way."  
>I laugh and bring out my creation, the one creation that should have destroyed the hedgehog once and for all, but that my father had failed to build correctly.<br>"I am tired of you, old man," I repeat. "It's time to bring an end to you and your pathetic life."  
>My father sees the robot and backs away.<br>"No, Julian, NO!" he yells. "Julian, please!"  
>"I'm not Julian, " I say imperiously, sending the robot after him, stalking him with slow steps, "I'm Dr. Eggman. And I don't listen to people who beg."<br>"Julian, I'm your father!"  
>"So?"<br>He scrambles, trying to find a way, any way out. There is none, of course I've seen to that.  
>"Metal, destroy him," I say. I feel nothing when I hear my father scream.<br>I turn to the screen, upon which is the smoking destruction left behind by the hedgehog. I make a vow, one that will rid my life of him forever and leave me free of my father's chains.  
>"I am Dr. Eggman.<br>"I will destroy you, Sonic the Hedgehog.  
>"You will not be able to run from me." <p>


	5. Chapter 5

I'm sorry if some of this is a little strange...my stories write themselves...

Egg Carrier, present

I have fooled them all.  
>Pathetic little cretins.<br>As if a mere troupe of forest creatures could outsmart me.  
>I even fooled you.<br>You thought you were getting an inside look when you started reading this, didn't you? A little bit of insight into Dr Eggman's head, his past? Some of you were even laughing at me, weren't you, chortling to yourselves and saying that it served me right.  
>You have seen only what I have allowed you to see.<br>You all thought I was broken. Lost. Ready to throw in the towel. Prepared to bow my head in defeat to Sonic the Hedgehog and His Fan Club.  
>All of this has been building to the climax of my most brilliant plan ever.<br>Thanks to Miles, every flaw in every machine my father ever built has been removed. They are faster. Stronger. The programs are more advanced than my father could ever have written in his time.  
>This time, I CANNOT lose!<br>It is mathematically impossible!  
>I descend upon Emerald Hill with my new and improved arsenal. Not only will I rid myself of Sonic, but I will also once and for all prove to everyone that I am better than everyone else.<br>Including my father, who is currently cursing me in the holding cells of the Egg Carrier.  
>Thought he was dead, didn't you?<br>Don't be silly.  
>Why wouldn't I want my father to witness that which he could never do himself?<br>It is the ultimate revenge.

Emerald Hill Zone, present

I can see them now, no doubt warned by whatever gadgets Miles has operational and in place to warn them of my approach. That hated blue streak nears me, throwing up plumes of dust as it passes, stopping directly in front of me. I have left the Egg Carrier in the stratosphere, and I am going to use the power of the Egg Emperor II to defeat Sonic, leaving the other machines under the control of the most advanced AI programming ever written.  
>"I see you've come crawling out of your cave," says Sonic in a deeper voice than I remember. He must have finally matured while I was away. He smirks at me and says one of those outrageous things that makes no sense, and I decide that he hasn't after all. He is forever saying stupid things that make it hard for me to believe that his IQ passes that of an eggshell.<br>"You cannot defeat me this time, Sonic," I say. "I now bring against you the power of every machine I have ever built."  
>"You didn't build that one," says Sonic, pointing at the Death Egg Robo II. "Dr. Robotnik did. Don't think I don't remember."<br>"You didn't build that one either," says Miles, also sounding a great deal older than I recall, gesturing at Big Arms II. "And why are you bringing all these things against us? You already did the time travel thing."  
>"Yeah," says Sonic. "Once again, you defy the laws of lame."<br>I have no idea what they're talking about.  
>"Enough chatter!" I say. "Prepare to meet your doom!"<br>"I think he's said that already," says Sonic to Tails.  
>"When exactly did he say it?" Miles asks. "Just so we can be clear that he said it already?"<br>"Never mind!" I say. I hate it when they do that. "I will defeat you and I will be victorious!"  
>"Now that one I know," says Miles. "Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park!" they say together in a sing-song voice.<br>"Silence!" I say. The Egg Emperor lifts its sword high. "Get a load a-"  
>"NO!" they yell. "Don't say it!"<br>"Don't say what?" I ask.  
>"Don't say what you were gonna say!" says Sonic. "We've heard it about a million times already!"<br>"What are you talking about?" I say. "I've never said that before."  
>"We never said YOU said it," says Miles. "But we're sick and tired of hearing it, even after all these years."<br>"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME THIS TIME!" I yell, and I give the commands. The new, invincible army I have constructed steps forward and begins the attack. I fall back, wanting to be able to witness his ultimate destruction.  
>Sonic is not afraid. He only laughs and gets ready to counter. I would have thought Miles to be overwrought with guilt or something to that affect. He has, after all, brought this destruction down upon them.<br>However, he is laughing too.  
>As soon as Sonic attacks the Egg Albatross I understand why.<br>It shatters.  
>Every machine collapses under the force of Sonic the Hedgehog. His speed is much greater than before, his acceleration defies the laws of physics, and as I watch him go I am able to calculate the force in Newtons with which he is attacking my machines, and I conclude that I had better remove myself from the situation with all haste, as the Egg Emperor II's shield is no longer strong enough to withstand the forces that he is capable of putting upon it.<br>I turn but the machine does not turn with me. It is not capturing my movements. I switch to the command prompt quickly, giving a command via portal, but that does not work either. Then I notice Miles walking up to me.  
>It is not the walk of his youth.<br>He is older, more confident than he was before. I often lose track of time when I am constructing machines, but it seems that this time I have lost years without noticing. There were a great many machines to construct, after all, hundreds of them to rebuild.  
>"Did you really think, " says Miles, "that I would tell you why you had failed?" I stare at him blankly.<br>Where did the youthful innocence go?  
>"I fooled you, while you thought you were fooling me," says Miles, and Sonic comes up behind him, having already decimated years of work all by himself in less than five minutes. "You allowed me access to your highest labs. You allowed me into your most secret base."<br>"You already knew where the base was," I say, trying to think of a way out of this one.  
>"No," says Miles. "I sent out a signal that cycled through every possible frequency. You tried to ping me. That's how I found you."<br>"That doesn't make a difference," I snap, not able to make anything around me respond.  
>"Stop trying to escape," says Sonic. "The EMP has taken care of that."<br>Sonic knows what an EMP is?  
>"I'll tell you why we won, and why so easily," says Miles, "if only because I am a genius and I feel the need to make speeches proclaiming what a genius I am."<br>"You don't get that from me," says Sonic.  
>"I should hope not," I mutter, not really wanting to sit through someone else's I-am-a-genius speech but wanting to know what he has done.<br>"All I did was put an enzyme in your alloy compound," says Miles. "I knew that you would make all of your machines from the same alloy. The enzyme just sped up the decay process. I was sure you wouldn't set out to destroy us until you had painstakingly re-created every machine you had, repairing all of the 'flaws' I pointed out to you, and in the excessive amount of time you took to build all of those machines, the enzyme made the metal brittle and weak."  
>He stands there for a minute.<br>"I'm done," he says.  
>"You need practice, Tails," I say. "Nobody had any idea that you were done talking."<br>"Nah," says Miles. "I don't like making those speeches. I bore myself. And anyways, no one calls me Tails anymore."  
>"Sonic does," I say for the sake of argument.<br>"Yeah, well, I don't mind," says Miles. "He can call me Tails if he wants."  
>"Your speech was terribly boring," I say. "You need to use better adjectives."<br>Sonic laughs. "That was pretty interesting, actually!" he says. "I'd like to learn more about it!"  
>"WHAT?" I say. For as long as I've known him, all Sonic has been interested in is running and sleeping.<br>"Well see, we had this fight," says Sonic unabashedly, while Miles looks away as if he doesn't want to think about it. "And I realized that I didn't really take the time to spend with Tails anymore, to, y'know, do stuff he likes to do. Like when we were kids, y'know, and he would run with me, but then when he started buildin' stuff I didn't go an' build stuff with him. An' it got so's we spent less and less time with each other, and when we did see each other we ended up really pissed off at each other-"  
>"You're saying 'each other' way too much," says Miles.<br>"Sorry," says Sonic. "Give me some time, huh? I can't be an English major overnight. Anyways, we had this fight at the end of it all, an' we realized that we weren't really friends anymore 'cause I was bein' selfish and ignorant, and not seeing that Tails has his own interests and stuff, and maybe I should try an' be interested, at least. Now, we coulda just let it get worse and gone our sep'rate ways, but to be honest, I really missed havin' him around to talk to and stuff, so I said ya know what? I'm gonna go see what he's doing, and try to understand it. And he was building this really powerful engine, and that was pretty cool, and before I knew it I was almost able to build one myself."  
>"It turns out Sonic has a natural affinity for chemistry," says Miles.<br>Sonic...likes chemistry?  
>The thought is so foreign I don't know if I can believe it.<br>"Yeah, chemistry is pretty cool," says Sonic. "Now I know how my sneakers work!"  
>Those damned shoes. If it weren't for those damned shoes...<br>I can't even take them from him anymore! He'll just go and make his own!  
>"I think you can go now, if you want," says Miles. "The EMP should have worn off by now. Which is good, because my show is on in an hour and I have to go reset the DVR."<br>"What show it is again?" asks Sonic.  
>"Uh...," says Miles. "Well, it's, it's Dancing With the Stars."<br>"Okay," says Sonic, and I can see he is somewhat confused. This must be a new thing.  
>"I like watching the girls dance," says Miles, a little embarrassedly.<br>"Ohhhh," says Sonic. "Don't worry, buddy, it was bound to happen."  
>Miles looks down at his hands. "It's just so strange," he says. "I don't understand it. All I ever wanted to do was build things, and now all of a sudden I kinda don't want to anymore."<br>I can't believe this is happening. Sonic likes chemistry and Miles likes girls. I want to go and ram the Egg Emperor II into something. I can't take this.  
>"You can do both, Tails," says Sonic. "Just like I was able to marry Amy, but keep livin' the way I like."<br>Sonic got married?  
>To Amy?<br>I activate the jets and take the Egg Emperor II back to the Egg Carrier. I have been defeated. Thoroughly. Seeing them destroy me with such nonchalance takes everything out of me.  
>I don't want to do it anymore.<br>No, really, I don't. I'm not trying to fool you this time.  
>But maybe...<br>Maybe I should try something different. Like they did. They got better with change.  
>Maybe I'll run for president.<p>

Epilogue

The White House, present

It looks up at the poster on the wall as the president slumbers.  
>'Yes We Can, Vote for Eggman'.<br>It simulates disdain and emulates a sigh.  
>It walks down the hallway to the chamber of its master. It walks quickly on metal feet that shine dully in the night lighting.<br>"Master," it says.  
>"Metal," says its master.<br>"What do you need me to do," it says.  
>"You know what has to be done, Metal," says the master.<br>"I must defeat Sonic the Hedgehog," it says.  
>"You have a new priority one," says the master. He presses a point on the computer screen and its optical sensors flash bright red momentarily.<br>"I must defeat the president," it says.  
>"Very good," says its master.<br>"When shall I proceed," it says.  
>"Tomorrow, during the anniversary ceremony," says its master. "This farce has gone on long enough, don't you think?"<br>"Yes Master," it says.  
>"After we remove Dr. Eggman, then we may finally fulfill your purpose," says Dr. Robotnik, charging Metal Sonic's battery with another push on the screen. "I can't believe he bowed so low as to appoint Sonic the head of the Department of Defense, and Miles as the head of the Department of Communications and Technology."<br>"But he is ruling the world, Master," says Metal Sonic.  
>"Is he ruling it, or is he being ruled by it?" demands Dr. Robotnik. "He must do as he is told, even as he tells others what to do."<br>"Yes Master," says Metal Sonic.  
>"No matter," says Dr. Robotnik, powering Metal Sonic down. "Tomorrow, we remove my son. The next day, Miles Prower will be tried and killed for his death." He smiles.<br>"He will be weakened his best friend's death," he whispers into Metal Sonic's auditory units, though the robot can no longer simulate hearing.  
>"And the day after that..."<br>He smiles again, his red eyes glowing in the dark.  
>"...I will defeat Sonic the Hedgehog." <p>


	6. Alternate Ending

Chapter 5 (Alternate)

Alternate Ending! For those of you who didn't like the other one.

Egg Carrier, present

I have fooled them all.  
>Pathetic little cretins.<br>As if a mere troupe of forest creatures could outsmart me.  
>I even fooled you.<br>You thought you were getting an inside look when you started reading this, didn't you? A little bit of insight into Dr Eggman's head, his past? Some of you were even laughing at me, weren't you, chortling to yourselves and saying that it served me right.  
>You have seen only what I have allowed you to see.<br>You all thought I was broken. Lost. Ready to throw in the towel. Prepared to bow my head in defeat to Sonic the Hedgehog and His Fan Club.  
>All of this has been building to the climax of my most brilliant plan ever.<br>Thanks to Miles, every flaw in every machine my father ever built has been removed. They are faster. Stronger. The programs are more advanced than my father could ever have written in his time.  
>This time, I CANNOT lose!<br>It is mathematically impossible!  
>I descend upon Emerald Hill with my new and improved arsenal. Not only will I rid myself of Sonic, but I will also once and for all prove to everyone that I am better than everyone else.<br>Including my father, who is currently cursing me in the holding cells of the Egg Carrier.  
>Thought he was dead, didn't you?<br>Don't be silly.  
>Why wouldn't I want my father to witness that which he could never do himself?<br>It is the ultimate revenge.

Emerald Hill Zone, present

I have them this time! There is no escape. They don't know I'm here. They don't know what Miles has done.  
>Maybe I should sneak up on them more often.<br>The only indication of my arrival is the thunderous roar of many repulsors whining, bringing my many machines to ground in front of the little village they've made for themselves. After a few moments Sonic appears, rubbing his eyes. He must have been snoozing outside again. Once again I wonder how such a lazy little creature has been able to stop me time and again.  
>"Wha's goin' on?" he mumbles. Miles runs out of his workshop down the hill and stops next to Sonic, who is still blinking away the sleep.<br>"I am going to defeat you, once and for all!" I tell him, and this time I really don't see how he is going to stop me. I have taken every measure to make my new fleet of machines invincible. He can try, but he will not be able to destroy them all.  
>"What? Again?" says Sonic. "How many times have you done that now?"<br>"This time it's true!" I say. "Just ask your little buddy there."  
>Miles is staring at the army with his wide blue eyes. He hasn't yet realized what's going on.<br>"You know that Tails paid me a little visit, a short while ago?" I ask Sonic, knowing full well that he kept it a secret for fear of angering his friend.  
>Sonic blinks slowly and looks at Miles.<br>"You were visiting Dr. Eggman?"  
>"Well I-I thought he might be lonely-"<br>"Lonely? You thought Dr. Eggman might be lonely? Are you crazy? Tails, what did you do?" Sonic shouts. He knows that he can beat me, but there is no way he can best Miles.  
>"I just-I thought-"<br>"He pointed out all of my design flaws," I say matter-of-factly. "He told me why I lost, and how I lost. He corrected all of my, for lack of a better word, failures."  
>Sonic's fists are clenched and he is not looking at Miles. He is angrier than I have ever seen him. Interesting. I wonder who he will incur his wrath upon.<br>"Sonic, I'm sorry," Miles says, reaching for Sonic's arm, but Sonic pulls away violently.  
>"Go away, Tails. Just go away," he says in a dead voice.<br>"But don't you need my help?"  
>"I'd say you helped enough already," says Sonic, and he glares up at me with flaming emerald eyes. But I have nothing to fear this time. I am invincible.<br>And he is alone. Knuckles is not here. Amy is not appearing. Shadow has vanished from the face of the planet.  
>And he has already refused his friend's help.<br>I have him all to myself.  
>Oh, how I have waited for this!<br>I don't even need to activate the other machines. This new machine will do just fine. "Shall we begin?" I ask him.  
>He glowers at me, and I look at Miles one more time, to see his reaction to Sonic's rage, and I see what I have been trying to orchestrate for lo these many years.<br>The innocence is gone.  
>I laugh and reach out to crush Sonic. He is faster than I anticipated-but no matter, this is my most impressive armour to date. He comes at me and doesn't even make a dent.<br>His rage turns to shock.  
>Never before has this happened to him. Never before has he come at me and had nothing happen. He has damaged nothing. A first.<br>I wait for him to tire himself out as he throws himself at me repeatedly, as usual, going for all the regular weak spots, but finding no hole, no opening, no cracks or fissures for him to take advantage of. There is nothing.  
>"Would you like to give up?" I ask him. He has injured his arm somehow.<br>"Would you?" he growls, but it is unconvincing. He has been demoralized by what he sees as Miles' betrayal. Until he gets over what Miles has done, he has no will.  
>I will not allow him to get over it.<br>I am able to take him by surprise, somehow, and I flatten him to the ground at long last. Once he loses the use of his legs, I will easily destroy him.  
>He of course makes an admittedly valiant effort to stop me, but he has been so thouroughly weakened it really is no contest. I lift him off the ground and raise him in front of me.<br>"Any last words?" I ask.  
>He spits on my viewscreen. His face is a mask of hatred. "Bring it on," he says.<br>I begin to slowly crush him in the grip of my robotic hand. He can't hide the fact that he is in terrible pain. I know he is. I know the forces being applied on him, and I know he cannot withstand them for long. In a few moments his bones will begin to crack...  
>"SONIC!" yells Miles, and both of us turn our heads to see him running full pelt back up the hill, with a bag in his hand. I really doubt whatever he has in the bag is going to affect the outcome of my little exercise, so I return my attention to squashing the hedgehog like the insect he is. Out of the corner of my eye I see Miles throw the bag at Sonic, but Sonic is trying very hard not to cry out in pain and I don't think he will pay very much notice to it.<br>He does. Out of the bag comes a handful of objects. They merge into a circle and rotate around the beleaguered forest creature. The Chaos Emeralds?  
>How is that possible?<br>I have five of them!  
>I back away as Sonic transforms into his Super form, knowing that no armour in the world is going to stop him. Sonic rubs at his arms and kicks in my viewscreen with those enormous red sneakers of his.<br>"Y'know the thing about Tails?" he says, standing in front of me. "He always comes through."  
>He comes closer. I'm not sure how I'm going to get out of this one.<br>Then he backs off, leaving the machine, and he calls, "Run away, Eggman. Run away. Now you know. No matter what you do, no matter who you manage to enlist, you can't win. You can't. Now I've got to go clean up your mess. Again."  
>And he vanishes, off to destroy my legions of hard work.<br>But I will escape.  
>To fight another day.<br>I will come up with another plan, a better one.

Egg Carrier, present

The Chaos Emeralds are where I left them.  
>All five of them.<br>What happened?  
>In rage I smash one of my control panels. It doesn't make sense! How did he defeat me? How?<br>I sit down.  
>I calm myself.<br>And I begin to plot my revenge.

EPILOGUE

Emerald Hill Zone, present

After he destroys all of the machines, Sonic lands in front of Tails, who is digging through the machinery and making sure it is disabled. When the power of the Emeralds wears off Sonic is left nearly beaten. He aches all over and he wants to go back to sleep. He is pretty sure that Eggman succeeded in cracking his arms.  
>"Tails," he says.<br>Tails stops what he is doing.  
>"Yeah?"<br>Sonic says nothing. He has to think of what to say. His head hurts. But he saw the innocence die in his brother, and no matter what happened, he didn't deserve that.  
>"Are you lonely?"<br>Tails doesn't answer.  
>"Do I spend too much time on my own?"<br>Tails is very still. "Do you think I'm ignoring you?"  
>Tails says nothing.<br>"Did you think that, if you helped him, Eggman would be your friend? Were you looking for someone like you to hang out with?"  
>"Yes," says Tails. "Yes, to all of it."<br>"I'm not mad," says Sonic. "We all make mistakes. You were trying to do the right thing, for yourself for once. But you could've told me."  
>"Sorry," says Tails. "I didn't...I didn't want to bother you."<br>Sonic sees they have a problem and he knows he has to fix it, or lose Tails forever.  
>"You never do," he says, and he gives Tails a hug for the first time in who knows how long.<br>"Those aren't real, are they," says Sonic, gesturing at the gems on the ground.  
>"No," says Tails. "They're fake. I made them."<br>"Good job, buddy," says Sonic, and he gathers them up and hands them to Tails, who is beaming. "Thanks, Sonic!" he says, and Sonic is relieved. He hates it when Tails is upset.  
>"C'mon," Sonic says. "I've got a nap to finish."<br>And as they head for the house, Sonic makes a promise to himself.  
>He let Eggman go this time.<br>But he still has to pay for what he has done.  
>He almost corrupted Tails.<br>And that is unacceptable.  
>"One day I will defeat you...once and for all." <p>


End file.
